Electro stimulation apparatus that provides micro current treatments gained popularity in the mid 1980's. The advent of electro stimulation treatment apparatus provided medical and cosmetic benefits although they required a relatively high level of intervention by operators providing long periods of “hands on” treatments. Similarly, clients/patients (herein referred to as subject) were required to spend relatively lengthy periods of time at clinics in order to receive treatments.
Since the advent of electro stimulation treatment apparatus, it has been generally recognized that there is a need to reduce the requirement for manual operation of the apparatus by a skilled operator. Apart from the requirement to locate sufficiently skilled operators, clinics have recognized that the labor cost of operators represents a significant component of the cost of delivery of these types of treatments. Further, over time, it has been noticed that clients are becoming less willing to spend the time required to attend clinics to receive treatments.
In addition to the problems identified above, there is a further problem in ensuring the efficacy of any treatment provided to a subject.
According to current treatment regimes, the efficacy of any treatment is highly dependent upon the skill and experience of an operator. Treatments are presently applied by the placement of probes on the surface of the skin of a subject and whilst signals are applied to the probes they are moved across the surface of the skin. Even with a highly skilled and experienced operator, it is currently impossible to ensure that an area being treated is uniformly exposed to electro stimulation.
Non-uniform exposure of an area requiring treatment will usually result in reduced efficacy of the treatment. In these instances, a subject may require more treatments than necessary to achieve the result they require and hence will necessarily be required to devote more time to receiving treatments than would otherwise be required.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electro stimulation treatment apparatus that reduces the requirement for manual operation by a skilled operator. Further, there is a need for such an apparatus that can provide a greater level of confidence that uniform treatment, or at least prescribed treatment, has been applied for any particular treatment session thereby reducing the amount time required to ensure effective treatment has been provided.
In the past, attempts have been made to provide a treatment apparatus that generates electrical signals and distributes those electrical signals to multiple probes that are in contact with the skin tissue of a subject. Generally, multiple “active” probes are provided that are electrically connected to a power supply and another set of multiple probes are also supplied that provide a return path for electrical current flow. Placement of “active” probes and “return” probes spaced apart on the body of a subject then allows the application of electrical signals to the active probes to cause a flow of electrical current through the area of the body residing between the active and return probes.
While this approach provides for a greater area to be treated, in past systems, substantially the same electrical signal is applied to all of the active probes at the same time. As a result, there is no assurance with respect to uniformity of application of the electrical currents to the area being treated as certain regions within that area may present a lower impedance path to the flow of electrical current and hence cause a concentration of the treatment through that region to the exclusion or limitation of other regions within the area being treated.
Other attempts to overcome the problems of non-uniform treatment have included systems having numerous power supplies that are connected to sub sets of probes such that placement of a set of active probes on the skin tissue of a subject comprises probes that are connected to different power supplies. Switching the individual power supplies on and off intermittently thus enables some control of the application of the electro stimulation treatment to the area being treated. However, these systems are intended to be used for the application of electro stimulation to disparate parts of the body, such as the legs and arms, so that these separate areas can be treated simultaneously. If all of the probes are located in a single area then substantial interference is caused between the power supplies.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for the application of electro stimulation treatments to a treatment subject that provides greater uniformity of treatment as compared with prior art systems. It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved uniformity and efficiency of treatment as compared with prior art systems whilst retaining either a single power supply or a limited number of power supplies in the treatment apparatus thus maintaining the cost of such an apparatus to a minimum.
Any discussion of documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the invention. It should not be taken as an admission that any of the material formed part of the prior art base or the common general knowledge in the relevant art on or before the date of filing of this application.